Changes
by Kassandra J
Summary: A new President, a new administration and they have just been told that aliens exist. Aliens are no longer the only threat Atlantis faces. One person now holds the fate of the expedition in their hands and she happens to be John Sheppard's ex-wife.
1. Chapter 1

**Note: This is a crossover with The West Wing (if you haven't seen it, check it out) and a rewrite of my other story _WestGate_.**

**MGM/Sci-Fi owns anything Stargate related. **

**NBC Universal owns the West Wing.**

**Anything you don't recognize...well that's all me.**

Things in the White House were hectic. Staff members were running around the West Wing doing their day to day work—meeting with Senators and lobbyists, press briefings and being driven crazy by the hundred plus situations that occur through out the day. To make matters worse was the news that Senior Staff members had been made privy to just hours before.

"Is it true?"

This question was directed to Joshua Lyman, Deputy Chief of Staff to President Bartlett.

"Apparently," Josh said to the woman who had just walked into his office. Olivia Barrington was not a woman who participated in idle gossip. She had spent the past few years ignoring all the accusations and false stories that had been printed regarding people who worked in the administration. The fact that she, a woman who served as one of the Presidents main advisors—the person that next to his wife, the president trusted the most—was coming to Josh told him that she didn't believe it either.

"You're telling me that we have had a team of scientists living in another galaxy for more than a year and we are just being told about it now?"

"Well it is either that or a spectacular joke that the Air Force is playing on us," Josh said.

"That was what I thought it was when Generals O'Neill and Hammond came and told me about the Stargate Program when we took office. I thought they had been put up to by President Hayes before he left."

"And what do you think" Josh asked.

"I have met General O'Neill, and while I admit he is not a person who takes things seriously, I doubt that he would go this far to pull a practical joke" Olivia said.

"So when are you planning on meeting with them?"

"Apparently they are Earth bound as we speak. General O'Neill asked them to return in order to meet the administration."

"He's a little late on that isn't he" Josh asked. "We have been in office now for thirteen months and we are just finding out about this now?"

"According to the grapevine deadlines are not O'Neill's strong points…unless he is ordering cake for the commissary."

"You can never underestimate the importance of cake; it seems to have worked on you when I have had to break bad news" Josh said with a smile. Then with a more serious note "Have you seen the list of people coming to represent Atlantis?"

"Yeah," Olivia said.

"You going to be okay with this?"

"It was a long time ago Josh."

"I know it was Liv, but contrary to what they say time does not heal everything. Are you going to be able to handle having meetings with him in the room?"

"I'm a professional Josh; I know how to separate my personal feelings from the job."

"You know that I'll be here if you want to talk, right" Josh asked.

"Yeah," and with that Olivia walked out of the room.

* * * * * *

Aboard the Daedalus

Colonel John Sheppard sat at a table in the commissary finishing what had to be his third cup of coffee in the last hour. He had been jittery for the past few hours, and drinking the coffee wasn't helping him. He had tried everything to keep himself calm from taking walks around the ship to working out in the gym. Nothing seemed to be helping, as the closer that the Daedalus got to their destination the more nervous he became.

Three weeks ago when Colonel Caldwell had arrived in Atlantis for their bi-monthly supply run he had a message for Elizabeth from General O'Neill. It seems that while they were stuck in Atlantis for their year without contact from Earth, there had been a presidential election. John was never one for politics, it always seemed to get in the way of everything, but what that meant to the Atlantis expedition was that they now had a new president to meet…especially if they wanted their funding continued. And from everything that Caldwell was telling them, that might not be a possibility. It appears that President Bartlett is extremely unhappy with the Air Force right now; apparently it taken them six months to brief the president about the Stargate program and he was not happy about being kept in the dark for that long. To make matters even worse, President Bartlett was just being told about Atlantis now…another six months after the revelation of the Stargate. Needless to say, they were not expecting a warm welcome.

Elizabeth Weir did not seem too concerned about it though. She explained to John that she had met Jed Bartlett once while he was still Governor of New Hampshire. They had both been asked to work on an international agreement between the US and some small Middle Eastern country. Elizabeth was there to broker the deal, and Bartlett was there to go over the economic impact that US aide would have on the country. She told John that from the small amount of time she had spent with the man she had found him to be honest, trustworthy and reasonable. For those reasons she did not feel that there would be any problem with President Jed Bartlett. Her assurances aside, John still did not feel comfortable about the meetings that would take place once they arrived on Earth. He also knew that deep down Elizabeth wasn't either.

Four hours later they found themselves in Earth's orbit and were beamed down to the SGC. There they were greeted by General O'Neill and the rest of the command staff.

"Welcome back," O'Neill said as they headed towards him.

"Good to be back General. Never thought that we were actually going to see this place again," Elizabeth said.

"Yes, well after the next week or two you are going to wish that contact was still cut off between Earth and Atlantis."

"Is it that bad?"

"Worse; and it isn't the President himself I worry about, but rather his staff. His main advisor, the one that he has assigned to this little operation of ours is a real piece of work. One minute she can be real sweet and willing to work with you, and then the next you better watch yourself."

"You've obviously met with the president, so what do you think of him," Elizabeth said.

"He's a good guy, but a little new when it comes to military matters. It was worse than when we told Hayes about the program; Bartlett thought it was some kind of big joke that we were playing on him because of his lack of experience all things military."

"How did you finally convince him that it was real?"

"I had Colonel Prendergast beam him onboard the Prometheus," Jack said with a sly smile.

"Bet the secret service loved that," John said from where he was standing next to Weir.

"Oh pa shah; I had him back before they even noticed he was gone. But it was a long enough experience to prove that we were not joking around with him."

"Yes, well I can not wait to meet our new fearless leader," Elizabeth said. "When is he supposed to arrive?"

"That is where a little problem comes in. Things in Washington are a little hectic right now so the President is unable to leave; that means we all get to go to him," O'Neill said.

"I don't suppose it possible to just reschedule the meeting for about three years from now, would it," John asked.

"Not likely Sheppard. What's the matter, afraid of our nation's capital?"

"More like all the politicians living there," John responded.

* * * * * * *

While those back at the SGC were getting ready to be beamed to Washington, things in the White House were getting a little crazy. Josh Lyman and Sam Seaborn (the senior speech writer) were all working on getting their latest piece of legislation through Congress and Olivia was busy complaining to Leo McGarry (Chief of Staff).

"Leo, what am I supposed to do with a bunch of military people?"

"Well Olivia the point of them being here is to give us information. As the person the president has appointed to advise him on this project you need to be there at the meeting."

"Well, you're going to be there too Leo. I don't see the point of both of us being bored out of our minds. Come on Leo, you know that there is no reason that I have to be there," Olivia said.

"Is there something wrong Olivia? Ever since you found out about these meetings you have been a bear to put up with," Leo said.

"No Leo of course not," she said lying through her teeth. "The only problem I have is that I think I would be of better use helping Josh and Sam with the footwork on the crime bill."

"I think that the guys can handle it for the next few days. All we need you to do is sit through the meetings and then tell the President and I what is going on."

Before either of them could say anything else, Leo's assistant Margaret came into the office.

"Olivia, General O'Neill and his party are here; I put them into the Green Room."

"They're here already," Olivia said. "I thought they weren't supposed to get here until later?"

"Well they're here now, and waiting for you,"

* * * * * *

They had not had much time in between arriving at the SGC and then arriving in Washington. O'Neill has arranged it for them to be beamed into a secure location in the Pentagon (namely General George Hammond's office) rather than having to sit through a four hour flight. After exchanging pleasantries with the General, they all headed down to the cars that were waiting to take them to the meeting. Hammond had already made arrangements to have their belongings taken to the hotel and seeing as that they already changed at the SGC, there was nothing keeping them from heading out.

The brief minutes that they were in the car were spent going over last minute information—basically what had and had not been divulged to the President. So far they knew that the President knew about the Stargate, the goa'uld, the Prometheus program, the ancient outpost in Antarctica, but not the Atlantis expedition. All John could think was that this was going to be an interesting meeting. Before long they were pulling up to the White House. It took several minutes to get through the security checkpoint where their ID was checked three times and their fingerprints run through a criminal data base. John thought that this was a little much, but then considered the amount of people who must walk through the door every day. They were then met by a young redheaded woman who identified herself as Margaret, (who John thought looked vaguely familiar), and then brought to a room off the West Wing. Margaret informed them that it would be another minute or two until the other staff arrived.

Five minutes later the door opened and a man stepped into the room. General's O'Neill and Hammond immediately stood to greet him while John and his team just stood in the back. The man who had come into the room stepped forward to introduce himself.

"Hello everyone; I am Leo McGarry, Chief of Staff to President Bartlett. I am very interested in hearing all about this expedition of yours, however my colleague seems to be dragging her feet on getting here. I think she stopped in to have a word with a co-worker, but she should be along shortly," Leo said.

And as he finished, the door opened and a woman stepped into the room. It was at that moment that John realized you really could have a heart attack from shock.

"Everyone this is one of the Presidents main advisors and he has assigned her to work with everyone involved with this Stargate Program," Leo said indicating the woman who had just walked through the door. "I would like you to meet Olivia Barrington."

His ex-wife.

**A/N: Like it? Love it? Indifferent? Please let me know by hitting that little button at the bottom and leaving me a review.**


	2. Chapter 2

**MGM, Sci-FI and NBC Universal own everything that you recognize.**

**Hope you enjoy!**

For a brief few seconds time seemed to stop for John Sheppard. When he joined the Atlantis Expedition he was left his old live behind him, or so he thought. Now fate or karma or maybe even the ancients themselves were laughing at him. All he could do was stand there and stare as his former wife, (at least he thought so, he had not stuck around to make sure the divorce was finalized), introduce herself to everyone. His heart almost stopped when she headed in his direction; he panicked, for he had not told anyone that he had been married once.

"Colonel Sheppard, it is nice to meet you," Olivia said as she walked up to him.

"Nice to meet you too, Miss Barrington," John said as he shook her hand. He quietly thanked whatever part of her decided to play it coy.

"Well, it seems that we have a lot to get to today so let's get down to it. First of all I would love for General O'Neill to tell us why we were not informed of this expedition when you told us about the Stargate," Olivia asked, directing a pointed look at Jack.

Jack sat there looking dumbfounded, not having thought he would actually have to do anything but just sit there as Elizabeth talked.

"Well…the simple matter is that we didn't even know that they were still alive six months ago when we informed you," Jack said.

"I'm sorry. I don't think I heard you there; how did you not know that they were alive," Olivia asked.

"When they agreed to go to Atlantis they knew it was a possibility that it was a one way trip. Communication was not reestablished until four months ago," Jack answered.

"Wait a minute; people volunteered for a trip knowing that they might not make it back to Earth again?"

"There was always hope that we would be able to return to Earth, but yes we knew of the possibility," Elizabeth said from her seat next to John and Rodney.

"You realize that is insane, right?"

"Yes well, everything in the Pegasus galaxy is a bit insane," Rodney said, speaking up for the first time.

"General, I am going to ask you one more time and I want you to be honest with me," she said looking at Jack O'Neill. "Is this all some sort of practical joke that you have been put up to? I swear if Ashton Kutcher jumps out from behind the door telling me I've been punked, someone is going to be seriously hurt."

"No Olivia, you are not going to be punked. Like I told you the last time, everything we are telling you is real. Yes, for the past eight years we have been traveling to other planets meeting aliens; No, they are not all friendly like E.T., in fact many of them have tried to kill us. Atlantis is just another faction of the Stargate Program," Jack said with a smile.

"I still think that this is all crazy."

"Join the club kid. I've been with the program since the beginning and I still think it's crazy."

* * * * * * * *

John was bored out of his mind. The meeting had been going on for almost three hours now and he had long ago given up on paying attention to what was being said. It seemed as if somewhere along the line they had been able to convince Olivia that this was all real. Elizabeth and Jack spent the time going over the major aspects of the expedition—the city of the ancients, the Genii, and of course the Wraith; Rodney spent the time going over some of the more technical aspects of how they kept the city running. John supposed he should have been paying closer attention to what was going on because when he looked up he found everyone looking at him waiting for some kind of response.

"I'm sorry, what" he asked them.

"Miss Barrington asked you about some of the security aspects of Atlantis," Elizabeth said to him with an annoyed tone, upset to find that he had not been paying attention.

"Security on Atlantis is simple…see a Wraith, kill it," John said.

"Typical military response," Olivia said.

"You have a problem with the military Miss Barrington?"

"Of course not Colonel; I happen to spend a lot of time with members of the military. All I meant was that it seems to be a common occurrence amongst them that they respond to everything by shooting it."

"That is not true. Sometimes in the Pegasus Galaxy it is required to handle a situation with a little C4," John remarket with a smile.

"Now we're talking my kind of language," Olivia said with a smile of her own.

"Yes, Olivia is our gung ho type in this administration," Leo said from his chair. "Her response to foreign policy lately has been to just blow it up. Doesn't matter if it is a treaty or a military situation…her answer is to blow it the hell up."

"Not all of them," Olivia said defending herself. "Now, I think it is time that we take a break for a while, get some lunch or something. God knows that I have left Josh and Sam alone to their own devices long enough. I am surprised that they haven't managed to set fire to this place…again," she said, remembering the time that the guys had tried to start a fire in one of the west wing fireplaces. The only problem was that the flume had been wielded shut about a hundred years ago. Due to that little oversight, the room had filled with smoke setting off the alarms and causing the evacuation of the President during the middle of the night.

"Sounds like a great idea," O'Neill said getting up. "I could definitely go for a piece of cake."

"You are in luck then General. I think the chef was making German Chocolate cake in the cafeteria today," Leo said with a small smile at the mans antics.

* * * * * * *

Olivia left the room as quick as she could. She headed towards where all the offices were located and walked to Josh's office. She found he and Sam sitting at the small table in the room, elbows deep in briefs and other papers that needed to be looked over before the final bill was sent to the House.

"How is everything," she asked.

"Good. I think that we should be ready to go by late this afternoon," Sam replied.

"Good to hear. Get out," she said to Sam, who looked at her dumbfounded. Knowing that she was serious he looked over at Josh and then left the room mumbling something about getting some coffee.

"What's wrong Liv," Josh asked looking at his friend with concern.

"He acted like we've never met. He wouldn't even look at me Josh."

"Did you really expect anything else from him sweetie? We're talking about the bastard who left you the day after Sara died and never talked to you again other than having divorce papers delivered to you," Josh said.

"I know that Josh, but some part of me was hoping…"

"Was hoping what Liv," Josh asked.

"I don't know Josh. I guess part me was hoping that deep down he still cared about me."

"So," Josh said wanting desperately to change topics, "What have you found out about this expedition of theirs?"

"For one thing, they are all insane. Honestly Josh, they all signed up for it knowing that there was a possibility that they may never have had contact with Earth again. And these things that they are fighting, from what they describe they are like vampire catfish."

"Vampire catfish?"

"Well, that's Dr. McKay's description of them anyway. Expect for the fact that they don't drink your blood, but rather literally suck the life out of you."

"Sounds like they are politicians," Josh joked.

"Yeah, they would fit in well here in DC."

* * * * * * *

When they split for lunch John had made his excuses and headed out of the White House deciding that he needed some air. Everything was too much for him. He never expected to see Olivia, let alone find her working for the President of the untied States. Although he can't say he was too surprised, Olivia always was intelligent.

He thought back to when he met her; it had both been during his sophomore year at Princeton. He was the cocky jock who had joined a fraternity right off the bat (thanks to his dad's legacy at the school) while she had been the quiet girl with her nose always stuck in a book. Although he had seen her around campus several times and was even in a class with her their freshman year, he would never have met her if it hadn't been for his frat brother Josh Lyman. From what he understood when Josh made the introduction one night in a coffee shop, Josh and Olivia had been long time family friends. Their fathers had gone to college together and became close friends. Josh and Olivia were raised together and eventually both accepted to Princeton at the same time. Olivia's dad had been worried due to the fact that she was younger than most when she started college—she had graduated high school at sixteen, but decided to hold off on college for a year traveling instead. Josh had promised both their fathers that he would keep an eye on her. Even though she was eighteen now and perfectly capable of taking care of herself (her words to Josh) he still looked after her like a little sister. The age difference didn't really bother John, he was twenty, she eighteen; and they soon found themselves spending a lot of time together and eventually becoming quite serious with one another.

They got married, much to the dismay of their parents, during the summer between their junior and senior years. While their parents had been a little disappointed that they were marrying so young (he twenty-one and she barely nineteen) they had thrown a marvelous wedding. When they graduated John had made a startling revelation. Rather than attend grad school like his father demanded, he had enlisted in the Air Force admitting that he had always wanted to be a pilot. Olivia had supported his decision, and while he headed off the basic training she headed off to law school with Josh.

They lasted a few years, but eventually time and circumstances came between them. By the time she was twenty-four he decided to end it and filed for divorce. Olivia had been quite upset as had Josh and their parents. Josh, a well established lawyer who was working for a Senator down in Texas, handled the divorce for Olivia; John left everything on his end to his dad's team of lawyers and went about his job flying helicopters for Uncle Sam. He never had contact with Olivia again, and from the one conversation he had with Josh he found out that Olivia had moved up to New York to work for a big law firm with another one of Josh's friends Sam Seaborn.

He thought that part of his life was over, but now he had to sit in a room with his ex-wife and go over things related to Atlantis. He just hoped that these meetings would finish quickly and he could back home and kill some wraith. However he knew that wasn't going to happen as soon as the meeting reconvened and Leo McGarry walked back into the room.

"So, I was talking to the President and he has decided that he would like an inside look at this Atlantis of yours. We all know that he can't go so he has decided that Olivia should go and spend some time there."

"What!" Everyone in the room exclaimed at the same time, everyone including Olivia who had been sitting on the couch.

"President Bartlett feels that it would be best if someone was sent to evaluate and observe the Atlantis expedition. He has already been in contact with the rest of the international community involved with the program and they all agree. They have also decided that Olivia would be the best candidate for the job," Leo said.

"Why me," Olivia asked.

"Yeah, why her," Rodney asked.

"Because she is someone all of the ambassadors are familiar with. The British, French and Russians all love her…and the Chinese are scared to death of her," Leo said with a small smile. "To be honest with you they all have said that they are unsure of their continued involvement with the program and are thrilled at the idea of an evaluation."

"Are you saying that the IOA might put an end to the Atlantis Expedition," Elizabeth asked.

"They are talking about it, yes. However they plan on holding off their decision until Olivia's evaluation is completed."

"What does all this mean, exactly," she asked.

"If Olivia's findings are in favor of continuing the expedition than funding will continue; if it is found that it is in the best interest to end the program, all committee members have decided that funding and support will stop and everyone will be brought home. Now, if you will all excuse us the President would like to spend a few minutes with Olivia going over the assignment."

With that Leo ushered Olivia out the door, leaving the rest in the room to discuss things.

"This is ridiculous," Rodney said.

"I don't believe this. General surely there is something that you can do," Elizabeth said.

"I'm afraid not Elizabeth. But don't worry about anything. Olivia will be very logical in her evaluation. She came down and spent a couple of weeks at the SGC and had a blast. We got nothing but glowing reviews when she was done, and in fact she didn't want to leave. She may act like she doesn't believe that any of this is real, but she has been our biggest supporter since she found out," Jack said, trying to reassure them.

"There may be a problem with all this," John said speaking up.

"What?"

"Olivia Barrington may not be unbiased in her decision making," John said trying to find an easy way to put this. "She's uh, my ex-wife."

"I'm sorry but did you just say that she was your ex-wife," Rodney asked.

"Yes," John said.

"You were married?"

"Yes Rodney."

"To her?"

"YES, Rodney."

"Please tell me that she ended it, because if you left her and it ended badly then we're screwed," Rodney said.

"We're fine," Jack said.

"Huh," Rodney said.

"She is not going to let personal relationships or feelings get in the way of her job. She may not like you Sheppard, but I don't think your past relationship is going to cause you any problems."

"Question," Rodney said. "Why isn't her last name Sheppard?"

"I guess she didn't want a permanent reminder of our marriage."

"Why does that name sound familiar?" Elizabeth asked.

"Barrington is Abby Bartlett's maiden name. Liv's her niece." John said.

"We are so screwed," Rodney said.

**Let me know what you think...hit that little button at the bottom of the page. :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**I think you all know who everyone belongs to by now, but I'll say it anyway: MGM, SCI-FI, and NBC own everything you recognize.**

Olivia was able to keep quiet while they walked through the hallways of the West Wing to the Oval Office. However once they were waved in by the Presidents' assistant Charlie, she didn't hold anything back anymore.

"What they hell is going on here Leo," she yelled as soon as the door closed behind them.

"Leo, Olivia, good to see you. To what do I owe this little visit," the President asked.

"Oh don't give me any of that bull; you know exactly what is going on here. Which one of you had the bright idea of sending me off to visit this little base on another planet? God that sounds wrong," she said, looking at both men.

"That would be me of course. You can say that I was executing my executive privilege," Bartlett said.

"Why me? Why are you sending me of all people to do this?"

"You have been with this program since the minute we found out about it. You were levelheaded and open minded when I sent you to Colorado and I think you can do the same thing now."

"Olivia, the President and I think that you can put your personal feelings and relationships aside to do the job that we are asking you to do," Leo said.

"Alright, I'll go. But next time ask me rather than just volunteer me for a job," Olivia said as she was she walked out the door.

Leo and the President watched as Olivia walked out the door. They knew she was angry, hell they knew that she would be angry when they made the decision to send her. They had debated whether or not sending Olivia was the best course to take, but even after consulting a third party…and a fourth and fifth, they knew that she really was the best one to send. They knew that despite the past between Olivia and the head of Atlantis military personnel, there was no one that they could send that all of the other involved countries would agree on.

"I hope we didn't just do something that will come back and bite us in the ass Leo," Jed said.

"That is a wish that probably won't come true sir."

* * * * * * * * * *

Four days later Olivia found herself sitting in one of the extra offices deep within the SGC. She had flown to Colorado the day before with the rest of the group and they were now preparing to head back to Atlantis. For two days after the announcement that Olivia would be returning to Atlantis with them things had been a little on the crazy side. Dr. Weir had spent some time trying to tell her what she could expect in the Pegasus galaxy, Dr. McKay spent some time attempting to tell her about the mechanics of making the expedition work while General O'Neill had offered simple advice: don't eat an hour or so before gate travel—otherwise you might not be too happy once you get to the other side. Olivia had spent whatever time she could going over things with Donna, Josh's assistant, (she would be filling in for while she was gone not that she actually did anything special except for babysitting Josh and Sam), and reminding the boys that they had to play nice in her absence.

She was on the phone with the president when General O'Neill walked through the door. The man didn't even bother to knock, he simply walked into the room. She looked up at him as he stood there patiently (as patiently as possible for him) waiting for her to get off the phone. After saying her final goodbyes to the people on the other end she hung up the phone and turned her attention to the general.

"Time to go?" she asked.

"Yep. Everyone is waiting in the gate room. Olivia, are you sure that you are okay with this?"

"Do you mean am I okay with having to go and evaluate the necessity of this little expedition, or do you mean am I okay with having to work with my ex-husband? I know that John has told you all about our past."

"I mean were you okay going via the gate rather than the Daedalus, but now that you have brought it up are you okay with everything else?"

"It's nothing I can't work through. And yes I am okay with traveling via the gate. If we had to be locked up on that spaceship of yours for two weeks, Atlantis would probably need a new military leader," she said with a small smile.

"Between you and me, I always knew that Sheppard was going to cause me a few headaches…which he as so if you want to bruise him a little bit I am all for it."

"Please, you know you love the guy. He reminds you of yourself," she said.

"Why do you say that?"

"That is what Sam and Daniel said, that he reminds them of a younger Jack O'Neill."

"Yes, well those two say anyone with a sense of humor and good love for cake reminds them of me."

"Yes sir," Olivia said with a laugh.

She grabbed her small bag from behind the desk, most of her belongings that she was taking with her had already been packed up with the supplies and equipment, and followed the General out the door. They walked a few minutes in relative silence. They finally reached the gate room and she headed in to join Dr. Weir and the team. Sheppard stood off to the side trying to avoid her as much as possible. He hadn't admitted to his friends how confused her coming made him. One part of him was excited that she was coming, that part was the portion of him that still regretted asking her for a divorce—the part of him that still loved her; the other part of him was upset that she was here, he had spent years trying to get over her and make a new life for himself.

General O'Neill made a farewell speech (it was two words: Good Luck) and then the event horizon opened. The new military contingent went through first followed by Drs. Weir, McKay, and Beckett. Olivia stood there watching as each person disappeared into what she could only describe as a giant pool of water. Finally it was just her and John standing there, Olivia staring intently into the wormhole. John came to stand beside her. Finally after what seemed like an exceptionally long time to him, John lifted his hand and placed a little shove on her shoulder—effectively pushing her through to the other side. He gave one small smile to Jack who was still standing there watching and then followed Olivia through.

Olivia stumbled through the other side; the only thing keeping her from falling down was the marine who was standing there waiting for everyone to come through. After righting herself with the help of wonderful marine whose uniform indicated his name was Major Lorne, Olivia's first thought was that she was glad she had taken O'Neill's advice in not eating before she left. She was about to move out of the way when she was struck from behind by another person. Although she had been spared the embarrassment of falling down before, the impact of John's body literally walking into her pushed her off balance again and this time she ended up on the floor.

John had been stunned when he had bumped into something when he walked out of the gate. Since he wasn't expecting anything his reflexes were not that quick and only reacted in time to see Olivia land on the ground.

Olivia was sitting on the ground looking up at whoever had knocked her over only to find herself facing John. She gave him a dirty look, even though she knew he had not done it on purpose. Two hands reached down to help her up and with the help of John and Major Lorne she quickly found herself upright again.

"Welcome to Atlantis Olivia," John said.

"Wow."

"That's what they all say when they first get here," John said with a laugh.

"I bet. This place is amazing."

"Yeah, it has it's good moments. It's seen its share of problems too. Come on, I'll show you up to Elizabeth's office, she's probably all ready in there trying to catch up on what we've missed."

John headed up the stairs Olivia and Lorne in toe. They got stopped along the way a couple of times by people needing John to sign off on something, but eventually they made it up to Elizabeth's office. They found her in the middle of a conversation with Dr. Zalenka and Dr. McKay. John rolled his eyes at the group and then looked over at Olivia.

"This is going to take a while. We might as well get your stuff and show your quarters. Later on I'll send someone over to give you the tour of the place and show you where your office is," he said to her. Then he thought about it for a second and turned to Lorne. "Do we even have quarters for Ms. Barrington?"

"At the moment, no. But we can just go ahead and put her in one of the rooms that had been set aside for one of the new recruits and find an office for her later," Lorne said giving Olivia an apologetic smile.

"Don't worry about anything right now major," Olivia said. "I know that my presence wasn't expected so you go ahead and do whatever you have to and worry about me later."

"Appreciate that ma'am. Colonel if there isn't anything else that you need I will get back to work," with that Lorne headed back.

* * * * * * * * * *

Later that evening Olivia wandered into the commissary. To say that her first day on Atlantis was crazy would be the biggest understatement she had ever heard. After Lorne had headed back to the control room, John attempted to locate some quarters for her. This task was rather difficult seeing as Major Lorne had already assigned rooms to incoming personnel days ago when the duty roster had been sent. John finally managed to find an empty set of rooms; the only catch was that it was in the same section of rooms most of the command staff occupied. She was situated into a room between Rodney and Carson and across from John.

After he brought her to her room he had left her to get settled. There had been a mix up in her luggage and instead of finding hers waiting for her, she had the luggage of one of the marines new to the city. She finally got that situation dealt with thanks to the help of Lt. Laura Cadman, the marine that had been sent to give her a tour. Her day got considerably better after spending some time with Cadman. The woman was hysterical and a joy to be around. She told Olivia about all the great hiding spots in the city and some of the crazy stories about what had happened in Atlantis since her arrival five months ago (one particular story revolved around her being stuck in Rodney McKay's head after a run in with the Wraith).

Olivia had spent some time unpacking before hunger kicked in and she headed off to the commissary. Luckily for her it was the one place she could remember how to get to…trying to find her way back to her room was going to be fun. She had made notice of John when she walked into the room; he was sitting at a table with his team. She had met Teyla and Ronon shortly after her arrival and had found both of them to be friendly… even though Ronon didn't seem to talk much. She grabbed her food and headed into the dinning area looking for a place to sit. She noticed John staring at her, which left her a little uncomfortable. Looking around for a place to sit she saw Cadman at a table with a few other marines and Dr. Beckett. Laura waved her over indicating for Olivia to join them, and she walked over.

* * * * * * * *

John had been sitting with his team in the commissary when he saw her come in. He had been hoping to keep his past with Olivia a secret, but that wasn't going to happen; Rodney blabbed that secret as soon as they all sat down for dinner. Teyla and Ronon had been a little shocked…neither had ever pegged John Sheppard as the type to be married. He watched her as she came into the room, tray in hand looking for a place to sit down. He was contemplating inviting her to sit with them when he saw Laura Cadman wave her over to her table.

"Looks like she's made a friend already," Ronon said as he watched John Sheppard's ex sit down.

"Great; her first friend is Laura Cadman. You do realize that those two are going to be trouble, right?" Rodney asked before shoving the last piece of his pie into his mouth.

**I think you all know what I am going to ask you to do now...so please hit that little blue button and let me know what you think.**


	4. Chapter 4

**We all know who it belongs to.**

**This chapter is a little on the shorter side which I apologize for and hopefully I will be able to get another chapter up soon.**

Her first two weeks in Atlantis were busy, but uneventful. She had spent the first few days adjusting to her new surroundings, things made easier by her friendship with Laura Cadman. The young Lieutenant had quickly become a good friend…and Olivia soon found out that she was in need of one. Word seemed to spread fast around the city what her purpose was. While no one was right out rude to her they were weary of her presence. It had taken direct orders from Elizabeth and John in order to get everyone to corporate with her. The civilians and the military personnel were all afraid that Olivia might recommend shutting down the program and they felt that talking to her would be seen as helping her do that. Her first attempts at speaking with the scientists she was given excuses as to why they couldn't talk or the cold shoulder. Military personnel were not any better; they insisted that they get it cleared with their commanding officer before they talk. Finally Elizabeth and Sheppard took pity on her and sent out memos insisting that corporate with Olivia or they would find themselves returning to Earth the next time the Daedalus was there.

Olivia's social life was not any better. The only people who were willing to be seen with her were Laura and Carson Beckett. She had meals with them at least eight times in the past two weeks. If it were not for their patience and consideration, Olivia would not have had anyone to talk to at all. The second Friday of her visit in Atlantis found her sitting in her quarters reading and playing solitaire on her laptop. Her reports so far were fairly short and to the point (seeing as she had little information to work with). She was just finishing up a chapter in one of the books she brought along when her door chimed. Getting up to answer it, she was surprised at who was standing on the other side.

"John, what are you doing here?"

"Hey Olivia, I was wondering if you wanted to join us for movie night in the lounge?" he asked quietly.

"You're willing to be seen in public with me?" she joked.

"Look Olivia, I know that these past two weeks haven't been easy on you and I haven't exactly been willing to help…"

"John it's okay. I know that I am public enemy number one right now. Believe me I know how it works; I don't exactly make a lot of friends on capital hill."

"So, how about that movie?"

"I would love to, but I already have plans with Laura tonight."

"Huh…I think I know what all that is about. Just do me a favor, no bad stories about me," John said.

"What are you talking about?"

"Did Cadman tell you what you were doing tonight?"

"No, she just said to be by here quarters around 8:00. Why, what's going on?"

"I think I will let you figure that out. But make sure you take it easy on the booze." With that John turned around and headed back across the hall to his room.

* * * *

At 8:00 that night, Olivia found herself standing outside Laura's room. When the door finally opened she was surprised to see the crowd that was already there.

"Glad you could make it Liv," Laura said as she showed her in. Then addressing the rest of the room she said, "Everyone, this is Olivia. I think we all know who she is but in following the rules of poker night all our jobs are forgotten. Olivia this is everyone. You already know Elizabeth and Teyla; this is Katie Brown, and Kate Heightmeyer."

They all exchanged hellos and Olivia sat down at the table next to Teyla.

"Alright Liv, welcome to poker night. There are two rules: first, there are no ranks or titles—everyone here is off duty; second, there are no other rules," Elizabeth said.

"Sounds like fun," Olivia said with a smile.

* * * *

The next morning was a Saturday, much to the thanks of certain staff members. Olivia walked into the commissary around 11:00, only to find many of those staffers slumped at some tables drinking coffee. Olivia smiled as she walked over to the table where she found not only Laura, Elizabeth and Teyla looking like they would rather still be asleep, but also John, Rodney and Lorne in the same condition.

"Good morning everyone. How are we doing today?"

"I hate you," Laura mumbled from her seat at the table.

"Why?"

"You drank as much as the rest of us last night and you look like you are perfectly fine. What is up with that?"

"Practice," Olivia said. "I can not remember how many times I've had to work late into the night and then went out drinking with other staffers at the end of a bad day.

"You still suck," Laura replied.

"And what happened with you gentlemen? I was under the impression that you were watching some movie last night," Olivia said directing her question to the mostly unconscious men.

"It was," Ronon said from his seat. Surprisingly he did not look effected like the rest of the people at the table. "It started out with a movie but then Sheppard brought out the beer."

"Enough said. It looks like we all had an interesting night."

"Yeah, and you wiped the floor with us at poker," Elizabeth said. "I suppose you will blame that on practice as well."

"Of course," Olivia said.

"You played poker with her?" John asked. "You guys are crazy. You never play poker with Olivia, she wins every time. I think she's been banned from Vegas thanks to her skills. Did you ever lose a poker game?"

"Once…and that was only because I folded when I had a full house."

"When was that?" John asked.

"The night you asked me to marry you," Olivia said.

"So you still won, didn't you?" John asked with a smile.

"I thought I did," Olivia said. "If you'll excuse me I have some papers to go over." With that she made a hasty retreat leaving them in their hung over misery.

"You're an ass…you know that, right?" Rodney asked.

"Yeah; I know."

* * * * *

Before long, Olivia had been in Atlantis for almost two months. Things were going well; she now had the corporation of everyone on Atlantis—they had long ago discovered that she was not the enemy they thought her to be; and her personal life was going much better too. She didn't stay in her room at all times now, rather she had fully integrated into the community. While she still spent a majority of her time with Laura Cadman, she had other friends to hang out with as well. Teyla, Elizabeth, Katie, and Kate were now considered good friends and could always find Olivia with one of them. They had become a tight knit group and they all spilled their secrets over games of poker and pitchers of margaritas. All the girls were now aware of Sheppard and Olivia's past, but only Laura knew the truth as to what had really caused the divorce. To everyone else the excuse was that they had both been too young and grew apart when she went to law school and he to flight school. John had also told his buddies about their past, but like Olivia he left out Sara and her part in their divorce.

Olivia now had one week left on her stint to the Pegasus Galaxy. She was expected to return on the Daedalus when went back to Earth at the end of the week. She had been pouring over notes and reports trying to get everything ready for the brief that she was expected to write—and the decision she still had to make regarding the continuing of this expedition. Although she had been there for seven weeks, she had yet to be off world; and that was something that John Sheppard intended to fix. His team was scheduled to leave in an hour on a trip to one of the more peaceful planets they have come across. For the past two weeks SGA1 and SGA2 had been taking turns in attempting to negotiate a trade agreement and now the deal was about to be finalized. He had talked to Elizabeth and convinced her that this was a safe enough tip to take Olivia with them. Olivia had been thrilled when she heard the news and was practically jumping up and down like a little kid until they left.

She had been in awe from the moment they stepped foot on the other planet. To everyone else who had been doing this for a while it seemed like a typical planet—trees, farms and a small village not far from the gate. To Olivia however, it was like Dorothy walking into Oz (or as John gave a better description, Alice into Wonderland). They were greeted by Major Lorne and his team who had gone through twenty minutes earlier, and then introduced to the village leader, a man named Goran. They were then led into a building that housed their village council. After everyone was seated and sipping on glasses of water, John decided it was time to get down to business.

"Elder Goran, I am glad that we were finally able to come to an agreement. We can not wait to begin trading with you," John said.

"I am afraid that it is no longer going to be possible," the man said.

"Why not," John asked him.

"You must understand Colonel that we are a peaceful planet; we are simple farmers, not warriors. That is why we can not afford to make enemies with them as well as the Wraith."

"Enemies with who?"

"I see we meet again Sheppard," a voice from the doorway said. John looked up and was shocked at what he saw.

"Kolya."

"I told you that we would see each other again."

Suddenly they found themselves surrounded by Kolya's men. They were easily outnumbered and even with all the firepower that they carried with them, there was no way they could get away.

"Well, this suddenly got a lot more interesting."


	5. Chapter 5

**This update is a little on the shorter side too...I was going to post it with Ch 4 but decided to make two seperate chapters out of it.**

**I want to say thank you to all of you who are still hanging in there with this story. **

**An extra special thanks to my reviewers Eternal Destiny, Dybdahl, Red Leader, and MiaRose...Thank you for your wonderful reviews**

**Also, it was asked so I will clarify...this is before common ground. It takes place about half way through season two with some minor changes.**

Knowing that there was no easy way to get out of this, they allowed themselves to be escorted from the village towards the gate. As they walked John kept exchanging glances towards Lorne, almost as if they were devising a plan of some sort. He was distracted though when a voice spoke up from beside him.

"So, friends of yours," Olivia asked.

"I wouldn't necessarily call them friends. They are more like a nuisance that won't go away…especially Kolya."

"Are these the people who tried to take over Atlantis during that big storm?"

"You know about that," John asked rather surprised.

"Elizabeth may have mentioned something about it. I don't think she is too fond of this guy either."

"They aren't very popular in this galaxy," Rodney said from his spot behind them.

"Apparently neither are we," John said. He took one more look at Lorne to see if he was ready to go. When he received an affirmative from his second in command he was ready to put his plan into motion. He slowed down a bit and as Rodney cam up from behind him, John stuck his foot out slightly and tripped the scientist sending him to the ground.

"Damn it Rodney, would you be more careful," John shouted at him.

"Me? It was your stupid foot that I tripped over," Rodney defended, not knowing that this was all part of John's plan.

"Yeah, well if you had been paying attention to where you were going you would have seen my foot before you tripped over it," John said getting angry.

"Well maybe if you didn't have such big feet…" Rodney said getting angry himself.

By this time their argument had gained the attention of Kolya's men and one came over to intervene.

"Is there a problem?"

"Yeah, this guy doesn't pay attention to where he is going!" John yelled.

"This one has feet almost as big as his ego!" Rodney said.

"ENOUGH!" The guard yelled.

"Do you mind," John asked. "I am trying to have a fight with my friend here."

When the guard went to put a stop to the fight John turned to him and hit directly in the face sending the man to the ground. Within an instant all the members of SGA 1 and SGA 2 were fighting their captives. Although they were easily out numbered, they were better trained and were able to take out most of the Genii. The fight didn't last too long and within minutes most of the Genii were pinned to the ground by Sheppard and his team.

"Everyone okay," John asked his team.

"Everyone is accountant for Sir. No major injuries," Lorne said.

"Good; Let's get these guys tied up and head back to Atlantis."

"Sounds like a…" but Lorne did not get to finish his sentence as he was struck by a Wraith stunner.

"What the hell!" John shouted as he watched the rest of his teams get struck down by the stunner. He looked over to see Kolya standing there, stunner in hand, and the next thing he knew he was hitting the ground.

* * * * * * * * * * *

When John awoke the sun was beginning to set. He let out a groan and then took a look around to see how everyone else was fairing. He saw Ronon sitting up from where he had fallen, as well as Lorne and the rest of the marines.

"Everyone okay," John asked

"SGA 2 is good sir; I think that Franks may have a small concussion from hitting his head, but other than that we're good. How about you," Lorne said.

"Well, Ronon seems to be pissed…so he's okay; Teyla's good, McKay is still out and Olivia…wait a minute, where is Olivia?"

"I thought she was with you," Ronon asked.

"She was when the fight broke out, but she isn't here now. Lorne, do you see her?"

"No sir, she isn't here with us."

"OLIVIA," John shouted as he looked around. "Olivia, can you hear me?"

Getting no response he started to panic. They quickly broke off into small teams and went looking around the surrounding area to see if they could find the missing woman. They spent a good hour looking before they came back to the clearing.

"Did you find her," John asked.

"No, there's no sign of her anywhere." Ronon said. "I think we have to face facts Sheppard. If she isn't here that only means…"

"That Kolya took her."

"Is that possible," Rodney asked.

"I think she was still standing when Kolya hit me with the stunner…so yeah, it is very possible," John said. "We need to get back to Atlantis and start trying to track them down."

The return to Atlantis was not a happy one. Elizabeth had been there to greet them, wondering how the treaty preparations went only to find out that the Genii had shown up. It had taken her a moment to notice that Olivia was absent and when she found out that the woman had been missing when they woke up she panicked. It was never a good thing when they lost a member of the expedition, but in this particular case she knew that it was going to be a lot of trouble. General O'Neill had guaranteed Olivia's safety to the President, and Elizabeth knew that heads were going to role when the president found out that she had been kidnapped. She knew that they needed to work fast and try to find out where Kolya could have taken her.

They headed straight to the briefing room where John and Lorne laid out all the facts: they had been ambushed when they went to the planet, Kolya and his men had been intending to take them somewhere via the gate, they fought back and were then hit by Wraith stunners and when they woke up Olivia had been missing. No one had any idea as to where the former Genii leader had intended to take them so they had no idea where to start looking. Things were beginning to seem dim and they all knew that they could only keep this a secret for so long seeing as Olivia was supposed to be returning to Earth within the week. They could only hope, as John had said at the briefing that their friends on the planet had some idea as to where the Genii may have come from.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

From where Olivia stood she knew she was in trouble. She had watched as John and his team fought back against their captives, only to be shot down by some strange looking weapon. Rather quickly she had found herself to be the only one standing in the clearing and Kolya came walking up to her. He had assured her that they were only stunned and they would wake up soon enough. He had then had one of the guards bind her hands so she couldn't try anything. The rest of his men had by then gotten up from the ground where members of Atlantis had them pinned down just seconds before. Kolya had taken her by the elbow and walked her over to the Stargate where he then punched in an address. As soon as the wormhole had established he and his men walked through. Liv had then found herself on yet another planet, only this time she was thrown into some type of room that could only be described as a prison cell.

She sat there for several hours before the door finally opened and revealed her captor. Kolya walked into the room with a small grin on his face which only pissed off Liv even more. From the little she saw of the man she knew that he was not to be messed with. She had read the report of his attempted take over of Atlantis after Elizabeth had brought the subject up. He had lost almost all of his men during the siege, and from the rumors the expedition had heard, had lost his standing in the Genii community; his only followers now were a small faction of men who did not agree with the currently ruling party. It appeared that he blamed everything on Atlantis, but most particularly John Sheppard. He wanted revenge on them and he intended to get it any way that he could.

"I don't believe that we've been properly introduced," Kolya said as he walked into the room.

"I know who you are," Olivia responded.

"Well then it is only fair that I know who you are."

"My name is Olivia Barrington."

"You are new to Atlantis, are you not?" Kolya asked.

"Why do you say that?"

"I do not recognize you from any of my earlier encounters with Sheppard and his teams."

"Well, that might be because when you attempted to take over the city there were only three people there," she bit back.

"No, not only are you new but you are of some importance to them. Sheppard protected you plus you were not carrying a weapon—that is not typical of Atlanteans; even Dr. McKay carries a gun."

"What can I say, Colonel Sheppard trusts McKay more than he does me. The last thing he would want to do is give me a weapon when I am around him," Olivia said.

"You have a sense of humor Ms. Barrington. I am glad to see that; you are going to need it around here."

"What are you planning to do?"

"I think you are more important than you belief you are. I intend to use you to get what I want," he said with a grin.

"And that would be?"

"Atlantis."

"Well, buddy I hate to break it to you, but our policy is to not negotiate with the enemy."

"We'll see Ms. Barrington; we'll see."

And with that he left the room, the door locking securely behind him.

**You know the drill...hit that little blue button and leave me a review.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Not much has changed since the last chapter, you all know who owns Stargate and The West Wing.**

**A special thanks to all my readers and reviewers....you guys are the best!**

It had been more than a month since they had lost Olivia, and things in Atlantis got considerably worse after. They had spent the first week scouring the galaxy for any sign of her. They had called all their allies to see if anyone knew where Kolya had built his base but no one knew anything. There had been several leads that had looked hopeful but had not panned out in the end. They had even contacted the Genii themselves as the new leader declared himself an ally to the people of Atlantis, but Ladon Radim had no information either. The Daedalus arrived on schedule a week later and their main mission was to return Olivia Barrington to Washington D.C. Caldwell panicked himself when he found that the woman had been missing and they were no closer to finding her than they had been a week ago. Caldwell had tried to stall his return to Earth as long as possible to give them extra time to locate her, but after he had been there a week longer than he was supposed to be he knew that they could not put off telling Stargate Command any longer.

To say that General O'Neill was unhappy was the understatement of the century. He had sat there in the control room of the SGC as they told him that they had no luck in locating her anywhere nor that they were any close to doing so. He had not asked any questions, nor make any comments; rather he listened to them patiently and when they were done he disconnected the wormhole. Those in Atlantis were not in any better shape. They took the General's silence for what it was—anger. For as long as John had known the General (and that wasn't very long) he had known him as a man who always had something to say; it wasn't always something serious and most of the time the man was always cracking jokes. When the man didn't say anything to them, they knew that they were in trouble.

Two hours later the stargate began to activate unexpectedly. All the teams that were off world were not scheduled to check in for at least a few more hours. They all made their way into the gate room where Chuck was waiting orders to open the gate.

"Do we have an IDC?" Elizabeth asked.

"Yes ma'am…it's the SGC."

"Open the shield," Elizabeth said as she awaited the message that would be sent through. They were all surprised however when instead of a message, people walked through the gate. General O'Neill walked through with a squadron of marines.

"General O'Neill, this is a surprise," Elizabeth said as she hurried down the stairs to meet him.

"Yes well, we have some things we need to discuss."

They made their way to the briefing room, all surprised when the marines followed the General into the room.

"I suppose you all guessed that after our little conversation, I had one of my own with the President," Jack started. "Needless to say he was not too happy. No one in the White House was too happy in fact. Josh Lyman was threatening to do some pretty nasty things to you Sheppard."

"I can only imagine," John said from his seat.

"My friends and I," Jack said pointing to the marines that he brought with him, "are here to get Olivia back. That is our soul mission here and will become your main priority, and you will assist us in any way we need."

"You're taking point on the search and rescue?" John asked.

"Primarily yes, and until further notice I am also in charge of Atlantis."

"What?" Elizabeth asked.

"The President wanted me to give this to you," Jack said as he handed Elizabeth an envelope. It looked very official and when she opened it she found letterhead directly from President Bartlett's desk. The message was simple: _You're out, O'Neill is charge. We'll talk later. _And Elizabeth immediately knew that her future in both Atlantis as well as her career altogether were in danger.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Olivia had lost track of time but she knew that she had been there for quiet some time. She had been expecting harsh treatment from her captures but in reality she got the exact opposite. She had been removed from her cell within a day and moved to better quarters. She was given a suit of rooms and although they were not of high standards they were better than she had expected from them. Kolya treated her more like a guest than a prisoner, letting her have free range of the compound rather than keeping her locked in her room. Her meals were brought to her room unless she decided she wanted to eat elsewhere and on occasion Kolya had 'requested' her company at dinner. If it weren't for the facts that she was surrounded by soldiers and not allowed to go home she would have thought they were happy to have her there.

Although Kolya had said that he intended to use her to get even with everyone on Atlantis, he had yet to attempt to make contact with them. When she asked him about it he simply had said that the longer he waits than the easier it will be. The longer that the Atlantis was kept in the dark and looking for her (which Kolya assured her would never happen) than the more likely they would be to give into him. That point she argued very adamantly.

"They will never give into your demands. They are trained not to give into terrorists," Olivia said on one of the nights she had eaten dinner with him.

"And you think me a terrorist?" Kolya asked smugly.

"Of course; you are using terror and corrosion to obtain what you want. That in our book is a terrorist. And it is our policy never to deal with people like you."

"As I told you before Miss Barrington, we will see. I have a feeling that they will do everything possible to get you back."

"Why do I think I am so important?"

"I saw the way that Sheppard looked at you. When I stepped into the room his first action was to stand in front of you. He made sure that you were with him at all times as we headed to the gate and when he started his distraction, the first thing he did was push you to the ground. You might think that you are not important, but I know that it isn't true…at least where Sheppard is concerned; He cares for you."

"That was a lifetime ago. I mean nothing to John Sheppard, or he to me. Years ago you would have received a different answer, but now…I mean nothing to him."

"I beg to differ. If he didn't care he wouldn't be out there looking for you."

"He is looking for me because he was in charge of my safety. He only looks for me because if he doesn't find me then he is more trouble than he can imagine; more trouble than you could ever cause him."

"And that my dear is precisely why I am going to win."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Atlantis had undergone some changes in the past few weeks. With the arrival of General Jack O'Neill everyone knew that their being in Atlantis was perilous. They had known that Olivia had been in Atlantis for one reason and that was to evaluate the necessity of the expedition. Now the woman, who was one of the closest people to President Jed Bartlett, was missing. No one needed to speculate as to whether or not the President was angry; the mere fact that Jack O'Neill was here proved that. Rumors had also been passing along that Elizabeth Weir had been all but fired, rumor supported by the fact that the General now occupied her office and everything had to be run past him first. Many of the military personnel serving here had at one time or another been stationed at the SGC and they all knew that O'Neill was not the type of person to be so serious. Even when he was being held hostage by Gould system lords SG1 always said he had a sense of humor. Now there wasn't any laughter or sarcastic remarks; in fact when Sheppard had tried to make a joke the General had assigned him KP duty for the whole day. The new general rule around Atlantis was that everything revolved around getting Olivia Barrington back. The General had not approved any trips off world unless they thought that it might bring them any closer to finding Olivia.

This went on for weeks and before they knew it, it had been two months since Olivia was kidnapped. As much as Jack had wanted to stay there and find her he had other responsibilities back on Earth. General Hammond had been filling in for him while Jack was gone, but he too had things to do. So Jack was forced to return to Earth with out Olivia. His return was scheduled for later that day and he still had things he needed to work out, especially who would be running Atlantis. He knew that Elizabeth had been all but fired, but he knew that was because the President was angry and looking for someone to blame. However when all was said and done Elizabeth was the perfect person for the job, which was Jack had every intention of giving her command back when he left.

Jack was on his way to find Elizabeth (who had taken an office down the hall) when the klaxons began to sound. Jack knew that there were not any teams off world so he began to wonder what that was all about. Elizabeth and John had heard the sirens as well and were currently running into the gate room to join him.

"Who is it Chuck?" Jack asked.

"The IDC matches Ladon Radim," Chuck answered.

"Let him through, hopefully he has some new information."

They all ran down to the gate just as Ladon walked through.

"Dr. Weir, I have some good news. I think I may know where Kolya is keeping your Ms. Barrington."


	7. Chapter 7

**Do I really need to tell you who owns everything? Trust me if I owned Stargate or the West Wing neither show would have been cancelled.**

It hadn't taken Ladon long to tell them everything that he knew. For the past few weeks since he was made aware of Kolya's actions he had his men doing recon work trying to gather any information. While he had never met Olivia Barrington she was a member of the Atlantis expedition and he owed them for the peace that his people were experiencing now. This morning one of his teams had reported that they had found some of Kolya's men and had followed them from the village to building that Kolya inhabited. Ladon had immediately taken that information to Atlantis, which is how John found himself here.

General O'Neill had ordered his marine contingent as well as many of the Atlantis teams to converge on the building, and in a surprising move, Jack joined them on the mission. The planet was rather quiet and other than the village that was near the gate, it looked like it had been deserted for some time. The building where Kolya was hiding out was old looked worn down. There didn't seem to be anyone on the outside save for to or three guards roaming the perimeter. They were not very good or well trained and were quickly taken out. They headed into the building where they received some resistance from the men stationed there. They did not wish to alert Kolya to their presence with gunfire so they used stunners to incapacitate the men. Before long they found themselves in the main room of the building and what was waiting for them caused them to immediately stop.

Kolya was standing in the center of the room with a terrified Olivia tied to a chair and gagged. It wasn't the sight of her tied to the chair that had them worried though, but rather the fact that Kolya was standing behind her with a knife pressed to her throat.

"Colonel Sheppard, so nice of you to finally join us," Kolya said.

"Let her go Kolya," John said his gun at the ready.

"I think not Sheppard. I believe I told you that I would take great pleasure in killing you. But it is quiet obvious that killing Ms. Barrington here would cause you much more pain. And it really is a shame since we have spent the last two months getting to know each other so well."

"I swear Kolya if you don't let her go I will kill you," John said. Kolya on the other hand continued as if he had not heard John's threat.

"She has told me that my little plan won't work, that she doesn't mean anything to you. I told her that I did not agree with her assessment. The way that you tried to protect her when we ambushed you tells me that she means something to you."

"You want me Kolya, then fine; here I am, just let Olivia go," John demanded.

"I've changed my mind. I keep her and let the rest of you go. She will be my…most welcomed guest."

"Oh, that isn't going to happen," Jack said from his spot.

"And you would be?" Kolya asked.

"General Jack O'Neill and I assure you that I will be taking her home with me."

"That is where we have a problem General. I have come to enjoy her company and think she will have a wonderful life here with me and my people."

"Over my dead body," John practically growled.

"If you insist."

Everything seemed to move in slow motion. Kolya lifted a gun he had hidden in his jacket but John was faster. A shot echoed through the room and Kolya dropped to the ground. John and Jack rushed to Olivia's side ready to untie her. When he got close enough to her he saw that there was no doubt that Kolya was actually dead this time—his shot had gone straight through his head. O'Neill was working on untying her hands and John reached over to remove the gag from her mouth.

"You okay?" John asked.

Olivia was unable to respond verbally as she was in too much shock over what had just happened. Instead she shook her head indicating that she was fine. With her confirmation the two men carefully helped her up from the chair she was sitting in. She looked down at the man who had been holding her captive for the last two months and saw his face forever frozen with a look of shock thanks to John's bullet. Suddenly it became too much and her knees began to quake. If it had not been for the two men who were holding her steady, she surely would have collapsed to the ground.

"You okay to walk Olivia," Jack asked her.

"Yeah, can we go home now?" she asked.

"Oh yeah; there are a lot of people back home desperately waiting to see you kid."

"I can imagine. Josh is probably gone crazy the past couple of months."

"From what I know kid, the guy was crazy to begin with. Now he is probably certifiable."

"Funny Jack," she said with the first real smile she had given in more than two months.

"We are going to get you checked out back on Atlantis and then head on back to Earth."

"Sounds good," she said quietly while looking at John. It was hard to tell what he was thinking but everything that Kolya had been saying all these weeks hit her full force. Was it possible that he still cared for her? She knew that they had been young and foolish when they got married—everyone had told them that and it wasn't like they really tried to work things out after Sara died. She knew that she was still in love with him, she still held out hope that one day they would get back together but John had never given any indication that he felt the same way so she had tried to ignore her feelings for him.

* * * * * * * *

The journey back to Atlantis was quick which Olivia was glad for. No sooner had she stepped through the gate she was practically tackled to the ground by an overjoyed Laura Cadman. The woman had been insufferable after Olivia went missing (according to McKay who said she bugged him every waking moment) and when she was told that she would be sitting out on this mission due to sprained wrist she had received during a sparring match she had gone insane. She had been waiting in the control room since they left waiting for them to return. When she saw her friend emerge from the wormhole she ran down the stairs at full speed at enveloped Liv in a hug.

"Oh my god, I am so glad that you are back," Laura said.

"Me too Laura, but I still need to breath," Olivia said commenting on the strength in which her friend was hugging her.

"I hate to break this up Lt, but we need to get her to Carson for a check up," Jack said.

"Of course Sir. Permission to escort her to the infirmary?"

"Permission granted Lt," Jack said with a laugh.

* * * * * * *

An hour later the teams were debriefed and Carson had come from the infirmary with Olivia's report. Everyone sighed in relief when he announced that Olivia was fine, that she had not obtained any physical injuries while she was captive. Carson assured them that with some psychological counseling she would be perfectly fine. At the moment she was in her quarters packing her stuff—she was returning to Earth in another hour with Jack and the marines that he brought. Elizabeth was back in command and Jack assured her that once he spoke to the president everything would be fine.

Olivia had said her goodbyes to practically everyone on the base and was currently walking down the hall with Laura when they ran into John. Laura had taken a quick look between the two and then announced that she was heading to the gate room and would tell the General that Liv was on her way.

"Hey," Olivia said.

"Hey; you heading out?"

"Yeah, Jack is waiting for me."

"Look Liv, before you go I just wanted to say that I'm really glad that you're alright."

"Thanks. Take care of yourself, okay?"

"I'll try," John said with a smile.

"I'm going to say this before I lose my nerve. I'm glad that I got to work with you John, it really helped me gain some closure over our past. There is always going to be a part of me that will be in love with you Johnny, but at the same time there is that little part of me that hates you for everything you did."

"Liv…"

"No John, please let me say this. I know we were young and everybody tried to tell us that we were making a mistake, but I loved you with all my heart. Even when we were thousands of miles away from each other and our lives began to take different paths. I supported your decision to join the Air Force because I knew that you would never be happy taking over your dad's company.

"When we lost Sara…when we lost Sara I was crushed John. I knew that our marriage was in trouble but I never expected you to ask for a divorce the day after our daughter died. I hated you so much for leaving me alone after that and I hated myself for that. If it hadn't been for Josh or my aunt and uncle I don't know what I would have done."

"Liv, I don't think I can ever apologize for that. There hasn't been a day since then that I don't regret everything I did. I should have been there for you after Sara died. Part of me never thought that you would just agree to a divorce like you did; I wanted you to fight it, to fight me. But it backfired because I didn't take your feelings into account. You were grieving and I was being selfish."

"You were, but we were in trouble long before that happened."

"I still love you Olivia," John said.

"And you know that I love you John, I haven't loved anyone other than you."

"Would it be alright if I kept in contact?"

"I would love that. I have to go; the General is waiting for me."

John walked Olivia to the gate room and nobody failed to notice that they were holding hands. As the gate activated Olivia hugged all her friends goodbye with promises to keep in touch. Then in a matter of seconds she was gone, having walked through the open wormhole.


	8. Chapter 8

**I don't own it, I just play with them and then reluctantly give them back. :(**

**Thanks to all of you who have taken the time to leave a review, you guys are great. **

Atlantis was finally returning to normal. In the months since Olivia had returned to Earth things began to settle down. Weeks passed without any world from Earth as to what their fate was. Elizabeth ran the city uneasily as she knew her position there was only because O'Neill did not want to stay in the Pegasus Galaxy. The rest of the scientists and military personnel were also worried. They were used to living their lives day to day waiting for the next Wraith attack, but now they were waiting for something different. Instead of waiting for their fate to be handed to them by their enemies they were living going about things knowing that any minute they could be recalled back to Erath. They were used to the unknown, to not knowing what tomorrow might bring; but now they were waiting for the filing of a report—a piece of paper that would determine the validity of their expedition. Should the judgment go against them they would have to return to their 'normal' lives at the SGC; if it went in their favor than they could continue their jobs with no other fear than what they might come across in Pegasus.

They were kept waiting for almost three months. Three months of fearing that they would have to back up and leave with their only hope being that when they contacted Earth, General O'Neill said that they were still discussing it. During those three months John had began corresponding with Olivia again. He would send emails in every data burst and letters every time the Daedalus did its runs. In return he would have emails and letters waiting for him too. Things started out simple, John telling the latest stories of Atlantis and Olivia complaining about the latest antics that Josh and Sam had pulled.

It was three months of living in limbo when their questions were finally answered. The klaxons in the control room started to go off and after Chuck confirmed the IDC, a figure emerged from the gate. General O'Neill was beamed into the gate room. Their fears were soon put to rest when they saw that the man had a big goofy grin on his face.

"Howdy campers," he said. "Just thought that I would pay you a little visit."

"Any special reason, Sir," John asked. "Come to tell us to pack up?"

"Quiet the opposite actually. I have to tell you that you all received rave reviews from our little White House lackey. Olivia not only supported that the expedition continued, but she ordered more funding and more staff. So on the next supply run expect a lot of the stuff that you requested in your last equipment order…and a whole lot more scientists."

"Oh joy…more scientists," John said.

"Yeah well, to compensate I am sending you a heap of C4 and other fun toys."

"I'm sure that Cadman will appreciate that. How about more military personnel?"

"You get to break in at least a hundred more marines." Jack said.

"So, she actually defended us?" Elizabeth asked.

"She gave you all fabulous reviews. I could tell you everything that she said, but that would require me to actually read the two hundred page report that she filed on your behalf. I assigned Daniel to read it and right me the cliff notes version. By the way Elizabeth, she said she couldn't think of anyone better suited for the job and insisted that you be given full command back."

"Wow; that is amazing."

"Yeah, she seems to like you guys for some strange reason," Jack said. Then turning to John, "I told you that being her ex-husband wasn't going to be a problem."

"It might also help that we kind of patched things up before she left," John said.

"That too; apologies can do wonders…or at least that is what Carter is always telling me."

"Apparently," John agreed.

"Well I have to get back to the SGC, that place doesn't just run itself and I left Daniel in charge." And with that the man walked out of the room. The sound of an activating stargate was the only clue as to where he had disappeared to.

"Are you telling me," Rodney started, "that after she was kidnapped, held hostage for months and almost killed, she recommended that they not shut down the expedition?"

"Yeah, go figure. I never understood her method of thinking when we were married let alone now," John said.

"Well whatever her line of thinking, she just saved all our butts," Elizabeth said.

* * * * * * * * **

Another two months had passed since they received word that they got to stay, and in that time things had settled down. The influx of new military personnel had been a blessing as the Wraith had become more active in the recent months. With this additional help they had been able to create ten new off world teams while still having plenty of personnel on the base in the case of an emergency. The science team had grown too, now having on their staff new biologists, physicists and a couple of marine biologists—a profession no one had thought about including, which considering the fact that they are on a planet that was 95% ocean, was surprising. Also to the staff were new nurses and another medical doctor to help Carson with the ever busy infirmary.

Also keeping John busy were the letters and emails that he sent to Olivia. After she left they would exchange letters and emails every week. That however, had slowed down in the recent weeks. He kept up on his end but he was lucky if he received anything from her every other week. When he did hear from her, her correspondence had become short and to the point. He wanted to believe that it had more to do with her being busy than her lack of interest in their somewhat awkward reconciliation. He was sitting in the commissary with the team for lunch one afternoon when Laura Cadman approached him.

"Sir," she started. When receiving a nod indicating to sit she continued. "I was wondering if you had heard from Olivia lately."

"I got an email two weeks ago; why?" he asked.

"When she left we agreed to keep in touch; you know fill each other in on the latest gossip, what crazy stunts you and Rodney pulled—all that fun stuff. It was like clockwork, every week in the data burst we would send our emails but I didn't get one this week."

"Don't feel bad Lt. I haven't received one in two weeks now. She's probably just really busy," Sheppard said.

"Have her recent letters seemed a little off to you?"

"What do you mean?"

"Distant; it just hasn't seemed like her for a while now. It is almost as if she is trying to avoid something, or like she's depressed."

"I haven't really thought about that. I put everything down to her being busy."

"I got an email in today's data burst, but it wasn't from Liv. It was from her friend Josh Lyman. He seemed really concerned and is asking questions."

"What kind of questions?" John asked.

"It might be easier if you just read the email sir," she said getting it out of her pocket and handing it to him.

"_Dear Lt. Cadman,_

_You don't know me, but I am one of Olivia's friends in Washington. I kind of stole your email from her address book and if she finds out about this I am probably a dead man, but she talks about you all the time so I am hoping that you might be able to help. Liv hasn't exactly been forthcoming in what happened while she was there working with you guys and nobody else is willing to tell me what happened, but I know it was something bad._

_She has been very different since her return to D.C.; she is not the same Liv that left here all those months ago. She has become distant and closed herself off from everyone else. For the first time ever the problem isn't trying to get her to shut up but rather to actual say more than two words at a time. She spends all her time locked either in her office or at her house, which I admit is not unusual, but she no longer hangs out with anyone either; it is straight to work and then home. I have been willing to let this try to work itself out on its own, but after what happened here today I can't wait to find out what is going on anymore._

_This morning she was working in her office when the mail was being delivered. Olivia had been so into her work that she did not notice when the mailroom guy walked in. She had her back to the door and when the poor kid walked up to her desk to drop off the mail, she completely flipped out. The kid was new to the job, (his first day) and went to ask her where to leave it. According to all the assistants in the bull pen who witnessed the event Zack (the mail boy) tapped her on the shoulder to get her attention and she turned around and punched him in the face. Zack is okay—other than a broken nose but Olivia has been panicking since then. I know that you have information as to what is causing her recent behavior, and has her best friend I am begging you to tell me so that I can help her._

_Please let me know,_

_Joshua Lyman."_

"You got this today?" John asked when he finished it.

"Yeah, about an hour ago."

"I'm going to go talk to Elizabeth, show her the letter. I'll see if there is anything that we might be able to do to help," John said getting up from the table and walking away.

* * * * * *

Two weeks later John Sheppard was once again stepping foot on Earth. After reading Josh's letter he had begged and pleaded with Elizabeth to return home to see Olivia. Elizabeth, seeing the worry and concern in the eyes of her military leader at approved his return to Earth at once. The plan was for him to pack up that day and hand over his official duties to Major Lorne but as things typically go in Atlantis, plans often go awry. An hour before he was scheduled to leave SGA4 ran into the Wraith and needed back up. They had all gotten stranded on the planet for two days trying to wait for a chance to get to the gate. When they finally got back to Atlantis Carson was not willing to allow him to travel on account to the gunshot wound he had suffered trying to extract SGA4. The wound was fairly simple and not life threatening, but as they had not been able to get back to Atlantis quickly the wound had become infected. Carson being Carson said he was not willing to let John go anywhere until he was a hundred percent better.

It took two weeks for John to get the all clear from Carson and as soon as he had it, John was hightailing it to the gate room not wanting to tempt fate and get stuck there for another two weeks. He rushed through the open wormhole and soon found himself standing in the gate room in Colorado. Jack was waiting for him and ushered John into his office.

"Hello Sir," John said.

"Colonel, I think I know why you are here. You received a message from Josh Lyman, didn't you?"

"Actually it was Cadman who got the letter; she just showed it to me."

"The man has become a thorn in my side and he is determined to find out what went on."

"So, nobody has said anything to him?" John asked.

"Apparently Olivia said that she didn't want anyone to know the details of her being held captive. The President knows, of course, but other than that no one knows. She explained her extra time by saying that she decided to extend her stay to make sure her report was accurate."

"What exactly is going on that has them so worried?" John asked.

"Other than hitting the kid delivering the mail?" Jack asked. "Apparently her behavior in general is just unlike her. I spoke with the president three days ago and she is just going off the deep end. She has been yelling at senators—which I understand—but has also become short and ill-tempered with everyone on the staff as well."

"That is completely unlike her; she is usually a very patient person. With your permission I would like to head straight to D.C now," John asked.

"Permission granted. In fact I have arranged for you to beam straight into the White House."

"How did you manage that?"

"When you are a big important General like me it is very easy to get people to agree with things."

"It was the president's idea, wasn't it?"

"Yeah; he cleared it with the Secret Service and you are beaming directly into the residency portion of the mansion. So, you better not keep them waiting. The Prometheus is ready to beam you in."

Twenty minutes later John found himself being led through the White House. He had been met in the residency by Charlie Young, the president's assistant and from there they had wandered down stairs and corridors into the West Wing. Charlie led him through one final door and found John found himself standing outside the Oval Office. The door was open and Charlie was standing at the threshold trying to usher John in. He took a deep breath and then walked into the room.

**You know you want to do it, so go ahead...hit that little blue button. I dare you to!**


	9. Chapter 9

**None of it is mine...I just took them out to play with before having to give them back. :(**

John Sheppard was not a man who was easily intimidated, but when he walked into the Oval Office he began to get nervous. Jed Bartlett was sitting behind his imposing desk staring at the open door as John made his way in. Although John was a good foot and half in height taller than the man, he still scared him to death. Not only was he the President of the United States, which ultimately made him his boss, but he used to be family. John knew that the man never liked him; he had considered Olivia Barrington more like a daughter than a niece and when they had come to him all those years ago and told him that they were getting married the man had been more than a little upset. He had argued with Olivia for hours telling her that nineteen was too young to get married no matter how much she felt she loved John. In the end though he had lost, but he had still shown her the support she deserved. He had willingly, at that point, accepted John into the family and the two became close friends. After John had filed for divorce and was living on Hanscom base in Massachusetts he had been surprised when the then governor came to pay him a visit. They had a very uncomfortable discussion, or rather Bartlett had talked and John had listened, where the older man had told him of his disappointment in John's behavior. The problem for Bartlett surprisingly was not the divorce but rather the time in which John had asked for it. He had called him cold and tactless for the man to file for divorce a day after his daughter had died. He had issued one more threat to John before leaving, and after that John had had no contact with any of them until the day he had walked into the White House to disclose the Atlantis Expedition.

"Come in John," Bartlett said as he began to put his papers aside. "That will be all Charlie, thank you."

With that said the young man closed the door behind him leaving John all alone with the President.

"Hello Sir," John said.

"I assume that word finally trickled down to you regarding what is going on."

"One of Olivia's friends received a letter from Josh. Is it really that bad?"

"She's been worse before, once upon a time. However back than it was clear cut depression, she was never violent like she is now."

"I wouldn't necessarily call hitting the mail guy violent," John said, but then seeing the look on the other man's face he continued. "Has something else happened?"

"Her temper has gotten a lot worse. She has been yelling at everyone…even decided to argue with me from right where you are standing. But four days ago she came into work with her hand wrapped up in a towel. When Josh tried to take a look at it she became rather defensive, but he finally saw that her hand had been cut up pretty bad. They took her to the ER but she wouldn't say what happened. When Josh took her home he noticed that the window in her living room was broken. She apparently decided to punch her hand through the window, why she did it we still don't know.

"We finally managed to get her to agree to speak with someone. Abby took her up to the farm in New Hampshire to get away from the chaos. We managed to obtain a highly recommended psychiatrist to come and talk with her; Stanley Keyworth has been with her for the past week since the window incident and he went up there with her."

"Has he said anything regarding what he might think is wrong?"

"He said it is clear case of post traumatic stress disorder—don't worry the man has clearance to hear everything. He is hoping to find out what her trigger point is and hopefully try to work through it. The last time we spoke Stanley was positive that they were making progress, but he does feel that it might help if you were there. "

"Then you know I'll go sir," John said.

"I know you will, but I want to talk about some things with you first so why don't you have a seat," Bartlett said indicating that John have a seat on the couch.

"I think I know what you want to say sir."

"I'm going to say it anyway. Do you remember when you came to me all those years ago and informed me that you wanted to marry my niece? I thought you guys were completely nuts, I even asked Abby if we could have Olivia admitted into the psychiatric ward. Eventually though I came to realize that you both really loved each other and gave you my blessings—but only after you and I had our discussion."

"I remember that discussion sir," John said, in fact he didn't think that he would ever forget that conversation.

"So then you remember what I said to you?"

"That if I ever hurt her you would make sure that they never found my body."

"I meant it then John, and the only reason I never followed through with that threat was because Olivia begged me not to. I won't let her stop me again."

"Sir, there is nothing I can ever say to either you or Olivia that could explain what I did or why I did it. There has not been a day since then that I haven't thought about her. I have spent the past seven years regretting walking out that door. I tried to forget her, tried to stop loving her but that is just impossible to do. Her smile, her laugh…the way she would pout if she didn't get her way—those are all things that I think of on a constant basis. I thought that getting away from her would help but it hasn't; I still love her."

"Don't you think that those are things you should be saying to her?"

"Yeah. Do you think it would be okay if I went up to New Hampshire to see her?"

"I think that would be more than fine," Bartlett said getting up and heading to his desk. "Just remember two things though, Shenandoah National Park is big enough to hide your body and the Secret Service and US Military work for me."

"I'll do that sir," John said with a smile.

* ** * * * * *

John had caught a flight out of DC and three hours after he had exited the Oval Office he found himself driving toward the Bartlett family home. The property had not changed much. John could see the orchards in the distance, they had always been Abby's pride and joy. Every year when John and Olivia were together they spent the holidays here and Abby would take them on daily trots through the orchards picking apples to make cider and pies later on. The horses were roaming free around the grounds; while the orchards were Abby's hobby the horses were something that Jed always took pleasure in. He enjoyed riding and all the girls, Liv included, were accomplished equestrians. The only difference that John could see was the security that the ranch was now under. The family home had undergone extensive remodeling after Jed had become president. It was now under the constant guard of the Secret Service—a skeleton crew when the family was residing in DC, but their presence was made known when ever any member of the family was there. He had to check in down the road before he ever came close to the home, then had to be cleared again when he reached the long driveway leading up to the house and finally checked again when he actually pulled up to the house. Normally John would say that it was a little outlandish, but he knew that when it came to the safety of the President or his family the Secret Service didn't take any chances.

Abigail Bartlett was waiting for him on the front steps. She watched as John, the man that her niece had married all those years ago before breaking her heart, stepped out of the car and present his ID to the Secret Service Agent who approached him. Receiving a nod indicating that he was all clear he headed towards the porch where Abby waited. She was seated at one of the several chairs that made up the sitting area of the patio; she made no move to stand and up and welcome him but rather she pointed to the chair across from her and John sat.

"Hello John," she said.

"Hello Abby."

"I am not going to waste time and give you a lecture…I am sure that my husband has already done that."

"He has."

"Good. Than all I have to say is that I am glad you came. Olivia is being very tight lipped about what happened to her on that trip of hers, but I don't need a psychology degree to know that there is something causing her emotional problems. Seven years ago it was easy to know the cause behind her depression, but now…I have no idea how to help her John. I have known that girl from the moment she was born; I have carried her, fed her, and helped to raise her after my idiot brother all but abandoned her after her mother died.

"She has always talked to me about what was bothering her, whether it was the kids at school who were picking on her because she kept skipping grades or after your first kiss. I don't think there has ever been anything she hasn't been willing to talk to me about, but these past few weeks…well we're lucky if she'll talk to anyone. Stanley, the psychiatrist that Jed brought in, said that for the first session she just sat there staring at him; it took two more sessions before she was willing to talk to him."

They were interrupted by the opening of the front door. Two people stepped out; the first was an older gentleman with slightly gray hair, but it was the second person that had all of John's attention. Looking at her John could see why everyone was so concerned with her. Her clothes, which were generally tailored to fit her, now hung from her rather baggy; her eyes had dark circles under them and it was obvious that she had not been sleeping well, if at all. They were talking as they came out the door but upon noticing the company that was there they stopped. Olivia's attention was now focused utterly on John as he sat there with her aunt. Stanley took one look at him and immediately understood who this man was. Stanley said his final goodbyes, reminding Olivia that her would see her the following day, and headed down to his car. This left the three of them on the porch; just John, Olivia, and Abby. Knowing that it would be better if she left them to themselves, Abby made her excuses and headed inside.

"Hey," John said as he stood up from his chair.

"Hi yourself. What are you doing here?"

"Josh wrote a letter to Cadman…"

"Josh, I should have figured. He wasn't to willing to accept mind your own business for an answer when he asked me what was going on."

"He's worried about you Liv, and so am I. What's going on?"

"Nothing."

"Liv, don't lie to me. Something is going on or you wouldn't be and under psychiatric care."

"God John, you make it sound like I am crazy; I'm not. According to Stanley I just have a little post traumatic stress. I guess I just haven't been able to process everything that happened."

"Are you working on it?"

"No John, Stanley and I are rehearsing for our American Idol auditions. Of course we're working on it you dummy. I spend four to five hours a day with the man and he has learned pretty quickly when I am bullshitting him."

"So there is finally somebody who sees through your lies," John said with a grin.

"Oh ha-ha; like you're one to talk. I seem to remember a certain college junior who convinced the dean that there was not any alcohol at a certain frat party, even though he was so drunk he could barely stand on his own two feet."

"Oh, are we bringing up old memories of college because I remember a certain someone running across the quad buck naked on graduation night," John said.

"That was Josh," Olivia said.

"Really?"

"Yeah, and it was two certain someone's—you were right along side him."

"I was hoping that you wouldn't remember that," John said with a smile.

"There are some things I will never forget John Sheppard, and the sight of you and Josh running down campus roe naked is one of those things. Plus, it doesn't hurt that I have it all on video," she said with a sly smile.

"You tapped it?"

"How could I not?"

**You all know what I want you to do....big happy faces if you do it. :)**


	10. Chapter 10

**I am not going to say it, becuase if you haven't realized who really owns everything after nine chapters what difference will once more make?**

**I am sad to say that we are coming to an end...just one more chapter after this. :(**

**Thanks to all my readers, especially those of you have been leaving me reviews! :)**

Before he knew it three days had passed. John and Olivia balanced those days between her daily sessions with Stanley (who John thought really was a nice guy), walks around the property (or trying to get John onto a horse), and evenings with Abby. In John's opinion Liv seemed a lot better than she was when he had arrived days before. She still wouldn't talk about what was really bothering her, but Stanley said she was making a lot of progress. Stanley was sure that she would be more than ready to return to work within a week.

Four days after his arrival in New Hampshire John knew that it was time for them to talk. He wasn't in a hurry to get her talk, god knows that General O'Neill gave him enough time off, but he could feel that Liv was ready, only she couldn't find a way to start. They had dinner with Abby that night, just as they had every night he was there, and then John asked her to go for a walk. The sun was beginning to set as they made their way out of the house but there wouldn't be a lack of light thanks to all the outside lamps that the Secret Service had installed. They headed out towards one of the big maple trees on the property, a spot that they had always considered to be their special place. When they got there John spread out a blanket that he had brought along with him. When they were comfortable John decided to break the silence.

"So, are you ready to talk?" John asked.

"About what John?"

"What's really bothering you. I know you Liv and I know when something is bothering you. There is something you want to talk about but don't know how to bring it up."

"Sometimes I hate that you know me so well. Stanley told me that it might be a good idea if I talked to you about everything, but I don't know how to start," she said from his side.

"How about you start from the beginning? Does this have to do with those weeks that you spent with Kolya?"

"In a way, but not really; Stanley has helped me come to grips with everything that happened there, but there were things that he said…"

"What did he say Liv?"

"He kept saying that he knew you would come after me because it was obvious that you still had feelings for me."

"Liv…"

"No John, please let me finish. I have spent the last seven years trying to get over you, to forget you. The truth is I can't. No matter what has happened between us, you will always be the man I love. I tried moving on, dating other men; hell, I even went out with Sam for awhile. But when it all came down to it, they weren't you. Josh tried to blame it on the fact that I was so young when we got together, but the reality is that to me anyway, no man can measure up to you."

"Liv, I was a jerk. I loved you so much and I never wanted to hurt you, but I did. The times that I would come to visit you when you were at law school, those were some of the happiest times of my life. I saw how much potential you had, that you were going to make a fantastic lawyer; but I felt that I was going to hold you back. Life in the Air Force is crazy; you never know how long you are going to be in a place, or how many times they are going to move you around to different bases. My weird way of thinking was that if I left you I would be able to keep you from ruining your career. If we had stayed together you wouldn't be able to stay in one place long enough to establish your career; and every time we moved to a different state, you would have to retake the bar exam. I didn't want to do that to you."

"It wasn't your choice to make John."

"I know that; I knew it then, too. And I want you to know, that there hasn't been a day since I walked out the door that I didn't regret it; and I never stopped loving you either. Kolya was right about that. You do mean too much to me for me to have left you there with him."

"John, there is something else…something I haven't been able to talk to Stanley about," Liv said.

"What?" he asked as he slid his arm around her shoulders.

"About Sara; about what happened. We never did get a chance to talk about it."

"Livy…"

"John I haven't been able to talk about her since she died. She was our baby. When she died…I thought that was why you left; that you walked out on me because you blamed me for her death."

"Olivia that was not your fault. You did everything that the doctor told you to. You cut back on your classes, you took all the vitamins that she told you about. Nothing you did or didn't do caused what happened. She came early, the doctor warned us that it was a possibility."

"The doctor said a few weeks, not two months. It was my fault John because I was too stubborn to take the semester off. I was determined to graduate with Josh and everyone else at the end of the term. I may have cut back on everything but I was still running full steam when it came to school. It was too much stress and that caused Sara to come so early."

"No, I don't want you to think that because you know it isn't true. Yes the doctor said she might come a few weeks early, but she also told you that it is normal—that some babies just come early. None of it was your fault. Sara was just too determined to make her entrance into the world, and she was too little when she came."

"But it was still my fault…"

"Olivia don't ever say it again. I will do what ever it takes to convince you that nothing was your fault. If anything, it was mine. I left you all alone with just Josh while you were pregnant, plus add on the fact that I had already told you that I wanted out of the marriage and it is obvious that any stress that you think caused you to go into labor so early was my fault. And when she died, I wasn't man enough to be there for you. I walked out the door and have regretted it ever since."

"I have waited seven years to hear you say all of that John, to know why you walked out the door."

"I'm not going to ask you to forgive me Liv, I don't deserve it."

"No, you don't. But that doesn't mean that we have to throw everything away."

* * * * * * * *

They spent four more days at the farm before real life called them. Olivia knew that she needed to get back to work as she feared what had happened in the two weeks she had left Josh and Sam to their own devises, and John knew that he would need to return to Atlantis soon. Neither of them wanted to leave the confines of the farm and the fresh start it brought to their relationship. They had managed to burry old skeletons and start from scratch. The night before they headed back to Washington, John took her out for dinner—a sort of first date. Abby had left them two days prior as she had a trip scheduled to Brazil and could not put it off. So they boarded a plane by themselves (with the Secret Service agents of course) and began their journey back to real life.

They were met at the airport by Josh whose face was covered in smiles when he saw them come down the stairs hand in hand. His feelings towards John had changed when Abby came back two days ago. She had told him that Olivia and John had sorted out their problems and were working on a fresh start. Josh had been torn at first when he heard that. John had been a good friend, but Olivia had always been like a little sister to him. When their relationship had hit the fan he of course had sided with Olivia, for obvious reasons other than the fact that he thought John was an ass. He was afraid that John would just hurt her all over again, but at the same time he knew that the only time that Olivia had been truly happy was when they were together. For that reason he was willing to give John another chance.

Josh greeted Liv with a big hug, happy to see that she was smiling again, (yet another reason not to kick John's ass). He and John shook hands and then Josh led them over to the car that he had waiting. Olivia took the opportunity for Josh to fill her in on everything that had happened in her absence. She was glad to know that the building was still in one piece and other than Josh having a little run in with a senator there had been no real problems. By the time that was done they had arrived at the White House. Josh had the forethought to get John his security clearance before leaving for the airport, so getting into the west wing was easy. They walked down the endless hallways until they finally reached Olivia's office. They put their stuff down and she noticed the mounds of papers that awaited her. No sooner than her bag had hit the floor than her assistant Claire had walked in the door. After quick pleasantries were exchanged between the two Claire began telling her what was on the schedule for the day.

"Well, it looks like I have to get to work," Olivia said once Claire had left the room.

"I guess so; and I should probably go check in with General Hammond over at the Pentagon."

"Are you going to have to get back to…well you know?"

"Yeah. But if I am lucky maybe I can get them to hold off until tomorrow. You up for dinner tonight?"

"Sounds like a plan," she said.

"See you later," John said giving her a quick kiss before walking out the door, leaving her standing there with Josh and the big grin on his face.

"Oh grow up Josh."

**Come on now...hit the button, especially if you want that last chapter. **


	11. Chapter 11

**I don't own anything...I simply borrowed everything and played with them. Now the time has come for me to give them back. :(**

**As they say, everything must come to an end....and here is the final chapter.**

**A very special thanks to all my reviewers. You guys are really awesome and are what kept me going as I wrote this.**

**One year later….**

It had been a year since John had left Olivia in Washington DC, and what an eventful year it had been with both Atlantis and the White House seeing their fair share of problems. Atlantis had seen a handful of problems, all of which seemed to begin the moment that John stepped foot back into the city. John had been on a mission where they ran into a villager who had been raising a wraith as his own child; Carson had given her some of a retrovirus he had been working on to turn the wraith human, but it hadn't worked like planned. John had been bitten by the girl and had undergone a transformation of his own. Carson had barely managed to find a cure before he had been permanently turned into a bug. Then just as he had recovered he and the team had been taken hostage by Aiden Ford, a former member of the Atlantis expedition who had become hooked on the wraith enzyme. They managed to escape only for John to again go missing on his next mission when he had wondered into an ancient village through a portal; the village he wandered into ran on a different cycle of time. While in reality he had been missing for only a few hours, to him more than six months had passed in the portal. Upon returning to Atlantis he had come to a realization—that he had spent too much time away from Olivia. He packed up his bags and returned to Earth in order to tell her how he felt.

Things hadn't been quiet for Olivia either. Shortly after returning to work things had gone from bad to worse. The White House had suffered major set backs in their legislative agenda thanks to senators who felt that those in the White House were doing things that were beyond their duties, like President Bartlett's choice of a Supreme Court nominee (who was not the guy that the Senate 'suggested'). Things only got worse after that. They had been attending a lecture at a local university when two gunmen had opened fire on them. Both Josh and the President had been hit, (though the President's wound was mild), and not only was the country thrown into chaos but Olivia had to deal with the fact that she could lose her best friend. Josh had amazingly pulled through his surgery and recovery and Olivia, to the amazement of everyone, had managed to not go off the deep end again. By the time that John had made his decision to come after her, she had been feeling the same way he did. Neither of them wanted to waste any more time deciding that they were more than ready to give their relationship another chance.

They were left with an even bigger decision to make, and that was who was going to give up their career. Both of them had important jobs, jobs where people depended on them. In the end though it was Olivia who made the painstaking decision to leave her post and she headed to Atlantis with John. To her it was an easy decision, the people on Atlantis depended on John and defending two galaxies from aliens hell bent on dominating (well more like feeding on) any and all races that they came across was more important than making deals with politicians. President Bartlett was reluctant to see her go but he knew that it was the right choice for her. And it wasn't as if she was leaving the administration as he had appointed her as the official liaison between the White House and the Stargate Program, (well as official as one could be with a project that was classified beyond top secret). She was now fully in charge of making sure that both Atlantis and the program in Colorado had everything they needed and that they never had to go through political hoops again.

Once both of them were settled back into Atlantis their relationship flourished. They didn't want to rush into anything so they took their time in getting to know one another again. They had lunch and dinner together several times a week when ever John was on base. He would bring her gifts on some of their more private dinners—flowers that he weaseled out of the new botany department, (he no longer brought her flowers that he collected off world after one of his gifts had put in the infirmary with a nasty allergic reaction), or her favorite chocolates that he ordered on supply runs. They played it easy for a couple of months trying to avoid the subject of where they intended to take their relationship, but unfortunately that was not a memo that their friends received. They at least waited until Olivia had been on Atlantis for about five months before they started pressuring them. Then the topic always seemed to come up whether they were at lunch, watching movies, or in some cases at the daily staff meetings; someone always breached the subject as to what they were going to do next. After about a month of the inquisition at the hands of their friends (and Olivia's as well, she had received several letters from Josh and the rest of the gang regarding the same subject), John finally told them to leave them alone, that they would make an announcement when they were ready. That of course had their friends even more fired up, but rather than hounding them everyday with questions they began to look at Olivia's hand to see if there was a ring on her finger. They finally seemed to give up after several weeks of nothing but disappointment when one morning at breakfast Rodney noticed something that caused him to spit his breakfast all over his other team members: there on Olivia's left hand was an engagement ring.

The news had quickly made its way around Atlantis, and to Olivia's surprise had also somehow made it back to Earth and ultimately the White House. During the next mail run Olivia had received letters from everyone back home congratulating them, although both Josh and Jed's letters had warnings to John about an ass kicking and being buried in various national parks if he screwed this one up. Abby's letter had been more along the lines of wedding planning. Olivia laughed and then wrote back telling her aunt that they hadn't even started talking about weddings yet. When the topic was broached a week later, by other Atlantis staff members, Olivia and John said that they wanted something back home on the Bartlett farm and low key, especially seeing as that their last wedding had been a grand affair. When Olivia told her aunt that Abby said she agreed whole heartily and assured them that it would be kept low key. It was only later (much later) that Olivia would remember that the words simple and low key were not in her aunt's vocabulary.

The wedding was planned for the end of November during the Thanksgiving holiday. Olivia, John and everyone coming from Atlantis would arrive Wednesday night to get settled in, and the senior staff from the White House would arrive late Thursday afternoon in time for dinner. The wedding was scheduled for Friday evening when everyone would still be relatively off work. Everything went as planned and Thanksgiving dinner had been wonderful. It had been rather interesting when Josh tried to explain the tradition to Ronon and Teyla who had made the mistake of asking the man what the day was about. In the end it was the President who informed them why they were celebrating (and he managed to do it in under twenty minutes…a new record for him) and added that it was also a good excuse to watch football and drink beer. Everyone had a good time and ate plenty of food, all gearing up for the next day. John and the guys left late that night to check into the hotel that everyone was staying in, while all the women stayed up in some of the bedrooms playing poker and laughing until they finally fell asleep in the early morning.

They slept in the next morning having no where to go until 1:00 when they would head into town to get their hair done. They had their final fitting for their dresses the day before, so they didn't have to worry about that. All the caterers and decorators began arriving around 11:00, so the girls decided that it was time to get up. As soon as Olivia made it downstairs she saw all the fuss that her aunt and uncle had gone through for this party. Tents had already been erected in the backyard, chairs had been placed out down by John and Olivia's oak tree where the ceremony would take place, and flowers by the thousands were being arranged all over the place. She tried to argue with her aunt over what she thought was just a little bit overboard, but it didn't do any good. Abby just went about her business and prepared for the evenings festivities. Olivia, realizing that she would never win an argument with her aunt, gave up and proceeded to allow the girls to lead her to the salon to get ready.

By the time that Olivia and the gang arrived back at the farm the guys had arrived. They, in Olivia's opinion, had it easy; all they had to do was wake up, shower and later put on their suits. Olivia on the other hand had spent the afternoon with Laura Cadman, and her cousin Ellie at the spa getting massages and their hair done. Now, as they rushed back into the house to avoid the men, it was almost 5:00 pm; they were scheduled to have pictures done at 5:30 and head down for the ceremony before 6:00.

At 5:50 Olivia was standing alone in her room. She and her bridesmaids had already finished taking pictures so she had headed back upstairs to spend the few minutes she had left to herself. A knock on her door broke her from her thoughts and she turned to see Jed Bartlett standing in the doorway. He was dressed in a black suit and tie just as the other men in the wedding party were going to be wearing. When she looked up at him she saw that he had a smile on his face and was attempting to hold back the tears in his eyes. Today he was not the President of the United States but rather simply Jed Bartlett, father of the bride. Olivia's father had died five years before so Jed would be filling in for that position, and he was more than happy to do so. He had always considered Olivia Barrington to be more like his daughter than his niece. Her father had been a wonderful man and loved his daughter dearly, but after the loss of Olivia's mother when the girl was barely four years old he had been unable to cope with the loss let alone raise a child. Olivia had moved in with Jed and Abby and become an official Bartlett. When her father was finally ready to be a parent again Jed had handed the girl back with much regret and a pained heart.

"You look beautiful," he whispered.

"Thank you."

"Well, it is time that we make our way down there. The girls and everyone else went on a head," he told her.

"What?" Olivia asked when she caught him looking at her strangely.

"I was remembering when you were six years old; you and Ellie used play dress up and we had all these wonderful play clothes for you guys. One day you put on this princess dress and you fell so in love with it that you refused to take it off. You practically lived in that dress for weeks, even going as far as wearing it to school."

"I remember that," she said with a smile.

"I asked you why you wouldn't take the dress off and do you know what you told me?" Jed asked her. When he saw her head shake in the negative he went on. "You told me that you wouldn't take the dress off because it made you feel like you were a real princess and that you didn't want that to end. You said that if you took the dress off than your fairytale would end and you would turn back into a normal little girl."

"You remember that?"

"I remember it because it was at that moment I realized what a wonderful little girl I had on my hands. I look at you today in that dress and I suddenly see the little girl pretending that she was a princess."

"You know that you are going to make me cry, right?" she asked.

"Well we can't have that, your aunt would kill me. I suppose that we should head down there instead."

"That sounds like a good idea," Olivia said as she took the arm he offered her and they headed out the door.

They walked a ways until they reached the field where the ceremony was being held. She met up with her bridesmaids, Laura, Ellie, CJ Craig (White House Press Secretary), and Donna Moss (Josh's assistant).They were all wearing dresses in a soft green color that ended at their knees and were holding bouquets of white calla lilies. Ellie, who would be serving as her maid of honor, handed Olivia her bouquet. Like her bridesmaids Olivia's bouquet was also made of calla lilies, only hers were in a variety of colors—reds, yellows and oranges. The music started and the girls made their way up the aisle. When the music changed to the wedding march Olivia once again took Jed's arm and together they made their way up the aisle. John was standing at the front looking dashing in his black suit (they had decided to forgo the military uniform and tuxedo). He was joined by Evan, Rodney, and Ronon who would be serving as his groomsmen and Josh who would be filling the role as best man (once again).

Neither one of them could take their eyes off the other, both wearing goofy grins as Olivia made her way towards him. When they reached the front where the alter had been set up, Jed shook John's hand and handed Olivia over to him. They smiled at each other for another moment before turning their attention to the priest before them.

"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today…"

**A link to Olivia's dress has been posted on my profile page.**

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